Various implantable medical devices have been clinically implanted or proposed for therapeutically treating or monitoring one or more physiological and/or neurological conditions of a patient. Such devices may be adapted to monitor or treat conditions or functions relating to heart, muscle, nerve, brain, stomach, endocrine organs or other organs and their related functions. Advances in design and manufacture of miniaturized electronic and sensing devices have enabled development of implantable devices capable of therapeutic as well as diagnostic functions such as pacemakers, cardioverters, defibrillators, biochemical sensors, implantable loop recorders, and pressure sensors, among others. Such devices may be associated with leads that position electrodes or sensors at a desired location, or may be leadless with electrodes integrated into the device can. These devices may have the ability to wirelessly transmit data either to another device implanted in the patient or to another instrument located externally of the patient, or both.
Although implantation of some devices requires a surgical procedure, other devices may be small enough to be delivered and placed at an intended implant location in a relatively noninvasive manner, such as by a percutaneous delivery catheter or transvenously. By way of illustrative example, implantable miniature sensors have been proposed and used in blood vessels to measure directly the diastolic, systolic and mean blood pressures, as well as body temperature and cardiac output of a patient. As one example, patients with chronic cardiovascular conditions, particularly patients suffering from chronic heart failure, may benefit from the use of implantable sensors adapted to monitor blood pressures. As another example, subcutaneously implantable monitors have been proposed and used to monitor heart rate and rhythm, as well as other physiological parameters, such as patient posture and activity level. Such direct in vivo measurement of physiological parameters may provide significant information to clinicians to facilitate diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. In addition, miniaturized pacemakers that may be implanted directly within a patient's heart, with or without the need for external leads, have been proposed, built, and adapted to provide both pacing and other electrical therapy to the patient.
For most of these devices, the ability to communication with the device after implantation of the device, for example using wireless communication techniques, is important. The ability to communicate with the implanted device, for example to allow the device to be programmed and/or to communicate with other devices while the device is operating, may be important, and in some examples necessary, in order to carry out and to provide some or all of the intended functions and features available through the operation of the implanted medical device(s).